Day 13: Seeing the surgeon

Pain in Jaw: 4/10
So today I saw my surgeon the first time since surgery and my orthodontist again. He was beyond excited to see me and was incredibly pleased with my results! I've finally had the middle band removed; I still have two bands either side but instead of just squaring around a couple of teeth, they now go from my canine tooth right the way back to my third molar. He also had a look at my stitches and surgical sites and said that they were healing pretty nicely.

Along with this i've been given the all clear to start eating soft foods - i'm still under strict obligations to not chew under any circumstances for the next couple of weeks, but they see no reason now as to why I can't try to eat mash, rice, pasta etc...

Upgrade!

So for my first 'non liquid meal' I attempted a lasagne. Not the softest of things but I was adamant that I wanted one. Upgrading from a syringe to a baby spoon I thought I had it all covered, until I realised how small my gap actually was. I can only open my mouth enough to fit in the tip of my little finger; so trying to fit a spoon WITH food ontop was impossible. I just kept knocking the food off, It took me about an hour to eat quater of it. I was so scared of opening my mouth too far also, I kept hearing this cracking noise and got a sharp pinch, but i've put this down to the band. My bottom jaw also spasmed to the right (before surgery I could move it all about the place) I can't tell you the pain I experienced after this, but I've got comfort in the fact that my jaw is going to let me know when i'm about to do something I shouldn't! My ortho told me that it's important at this stage to start to open your mouth, to get your muscles stretching again. I don't mind so much though as I've discovered I can actually fit a chocolate button into my mouth now, this should keep me happy for a while!

I asked my surgeon also about sleeping upright. He told me that during surgery he had to do alot of work inside my nose to remove turbinates and soft tissue, although it's healing nicely he told me to take it slow, starting slightly elevated and then gradually lowering myself. The main concern he had would be I'd get too congested lieing flat and would struggle to breathe - but he said that if I'm comfy I can go ahead and lie down. I think i'm going to stay sleeping on a chair for a while, partly because I only have one bed which I share with James, and I don't want him smacking me in the face in the middle of the night!

Funny story also, today (prior to bands being removed) I was eating my yogurt through my syringe with a self-attaching plastic straw. Pressure built up in the syringe and exploded, knocking the straw into my mouth and the yogurt ended up going all over my face, in my eye and up my nose. As bad as syringe eating is, it's given the family lots of laughs!

Edit: One thing I forgot to add, since having the band removed I have abit more movement in my mouth when talking, although I'm still clenching my teeth together constantly. Not only do I feel like I need to learn to eat again, but talk too! The next couple of weeks shall be fun!